Long Leaf Basket Grass

Annuals; culm branching and rooting at lower nodes, 10-30 cm long. Blade lanceolate to narrowly ovate, acuminate, 3-7 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, near glabrous to hairy; sheath shorter than internode; ligule very short. Inflorescence 6-12 cm long; racemes 6-10; spikelets 1-30 per raceme, fascicled, rarely rachis to 15 mm long. Spikelets ca. 3 mm long, rounded, shortly hairy, narrowly ovate, subsessile; lower glume broadly lanceolate, 1/2 as long as spikelet, bearing an erect awn; upper glume 2/3 as long as spikelet, broadly ovate, shortly awned, 5-7-veined, membranaceous; upper lemma pale, smooth, coriaceous, shiny, acute, ca. 2.7 mm long.

The warm temperate regions of Asia and Europe. Taiwan, in lowland forest.

Panicum hirtellum L., Syst. Nat. 10. ed. 2: 870. 1753. Orthopogon imbecillis R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 194. 1810. Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) Roem. & Schult. var. imbecillis (R. Br.) Hack., Gov. Lab. Publ. Philip. 25: 82. 1905. Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) P. Beauv. subsp. imbecillis (R. Br.) U. Schulz, Phan. Monogr. 13: 127. 1981. Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) P. Beauv. var. imbecillis (R. Br.) Fosberg & Sachet, Micronescia 18(2): 78. 1984. Panicum japonicum Steud., Flora 24: 18.1846. Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) Roem. & Schult. var. japonicus (Steud.) Koidz., Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 39: 302. 1925. Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) P. Beauv. subsp. japonicus (Steud.) U. Schulz, Phan. Monogr. 13: 133. 1981. Oplismenus microphyllus Honda, J. Fac. Sci. Univ. Tokyo, Sect. 3, Bot. 3: 274. 1930. Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) Roem. & Schult. var. microphyllus (Honda) Ohwi, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 55: 546. 1941. Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) P. Beauv. subsp. microphyllus (Honda) U. Schulz, Phan. Monogr. 13: 137. 1981. Panicum undulatifolium Ard., Animad. Sp. Alt. 14. 1764. Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 2: 482. 1817; Hsu, Fl. Taiwan 5: 565. 1978. Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) P. Beauv. subsp. undulatifolius (Ard.) U. Schulz, Phan. Monogr. 13: 127. 1981.

hirtellus: finely and minutely hairy

Trailing perennial. Culms up to 100 cm long with leaves lanceolate to narrowly ovate. Inflorescences with a distinct rhachis up to 3 cm long. Spikelets in pairs, hairless to sparsely pubescent; awns smooth and sticky, longest 3-14 mm.

Pantropical except most of Asia.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades very short, 0.5-2 cm long, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaves with distinct crossveins, net-like transverse veins, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes awned , awn 1-5 mm or longer, Glumes 3 nerved, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea longer than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Oplismenus hirtellus (commonly known as basket grass) is a flowering perennial plant from the family Poaceae that can be found on every continent in the world except Antarctica, growing mostly in coastal tropic and subtropic regions as well as tropical and subtropical islands such as Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia and Madagascar.

Oplismenus hirtellus flowers are typically deep reddish or purple, whereas a sister species Oplismenus undulatifolius features white or very lightly colored flowers.